The Patience of the Lord

Yet for many years You had patience with them,
And testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets.
Yet they would not listen;
Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nehemiah 9:30

Many years the Lord had patience with Israel. It doesn't seem fair to the generation who endures the outpouring of the Lord's anger when it does come. What about all those persons who participated in the sins and yet lived out their lives without enduring the humiliation of defeat as Nebuchadnezzar carried out God's will? One of those walking down the long dusty road to Babylon may have asked of the Lord that question, and there was no answer. Well, except for the one that several prophets spoke to the generations before the Lord's patience was set aside.  

As the end times and the Tribulation approaches, it may be that some around us will soon be asking that same question of the Lord. Of course, the Rapture will leave many here with knowledge of the judgments ready to be poured out from God, and trembling in fear, they too may ask that same question. This question in its simplest form is, "Why me?" And the same answer is forthcoming: it is in the word of the Lord through His Spirit by His prophets. We have no excuse now, and those left behind will not have excuse either. The way to the Lord God is through His Son; come to Him now. 

Have a great new week in Christ Jesus!

Bucky

What We Live For

...who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24

Our Lord Jesus gave us the desire and ability to live for righteousness. What does the world train and call us to live for? You know already of course: attention and fame, money and luxury, power and gain, sex and sexuality, and all other means of catering to the fallen desires of the flesh. "Be yourself," the world commands us. 

Well, the Holy Spirit gave me a good look at the old me one day, and I didn't want to be him. 

Everyone who believes in our Lord Jesus has come to face the old thing that was born on this earth demanding its own way. The selfishness of the born once was tough to face, and we are all glad, I think, that we did not have to face him or her alone. That old thing still demands attention with its lusts too often, even after the second birth. Peter tells us that our Lord has cleared the way for us to live in righteousness by submitting to the stripes of the whip. 

The old flesh that I could not conquer alone was healed in a way that I cannot explain; guess I am wholly inadequate to save myself. Praise God for my weakness! 

Bucky

The Boot of September

For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire. Isaiah 9:5 ESV

We are past the boot of September! This is the sort of announcement that leaves you nonplussed, I'm sure. What could possibly be the 'boot' of September? Well, it's on my Peanuts calendar, right there between the 24th and 25th of September. So, we are now past the boot of September! Still not feeling the celebration? Well, anyway, with that inspiration, I did a word search on the Bible for 'boot', and found just one in the ESV. 

I haven't read the context for this verse yet, but some thoughts do come to mind right away. It may tell of a defeat for an army and the victors burn the footwear and clothing of the defeated troops. Perhaps the tale is a prophecy of a time when war is finished forever, and all willingly toss their combat clothing into the fire in celebration. We cannot know without the rest of the story, but as it is God's word, we do know that this will happen, or has happened, or sometimes both. What can Isaiah 9 have for us to look forward to? 

Aha! You know already. It is nothing less than a prophecy of a child, and such a child he is! Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace! The names roll on from the prophecy of our Savior and Lord, Jesus the Christ. 

All this blessing because Peppermint Patty booted a football on my calendar. You just never know the mysterious ways of God!

Bucky

Which Wanting Have I?

TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting. Daniel 5:27

The word wanting is found in many places in the Bible, and it is interesting in its scope. Daniel gave the word to a ruler who did not measure up to God's standard in our verse for today. Joseph's wanting was that Mary not be publicly disgraced. Festus kept Paul bound wanting to do the Jews a favor. Later a Roman centurion prevented the death of prisoners because of wanting to save Paul. Wanting, it appears, speaks to the desires of the heart. 

What is my heart wanting to do this day? There's the obvious, I'm hungry and wanting some breakfast. Anyone could easily have guessed that, so what is wanting in my heart that is not me centered on this fine morning? I want to praise God for the lovely cool temperature of autumn mornings and the first few leaves changing to their fall colors. Does not praising God always lift the spirits a bit and take the focus off that too common me theme we tend to have? Yes, it certainly does. Shall I praise God for another day here on earth? Why yes, unless the Rapture came last night and I'm writing this to no one at all today. Of course then I will praise God that all of you have gone to be with our Lord forever!

 

Rejoice and praise the Lord on this day!

Bucky

Pulling You Down

These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Jude 1:12-13

Apostates have been with us for years, but it seems that at the end they will increase. There is only a little bit of Jude in the Bible, and yet much of it is given to warning about apostates. So, what are these things? It would be so easy if they would oblige us with horns, green skin, repulsive appearance, two noses or perhaps a trunk, three beady eyes with shifty little spots, or something that would give them away. Of course we wouldn't need much of warning to avoid such creatures spouting blasphemous words. Unfortunately, the apostates look just like you and me. 

Jude's first example is the Israelites who walked through the Red Sea and out of Egypt. You might think all of them would believe in God with such a sign as walking on dry ground between walls of water in what would in a normal times be a drowning experience. However, some refused to believe and they reached out in unbelief to drag down other Israelites. Apostates share experiences of the miraculous with us and yet refuse to believe and would have us go down with them. Therefore, Jude told us to watch out for them, just as we must say to one another today. 

Love to you in Christ Jesus!

Bucky

Find Your Way Home

Fools are so exhausted by a little work
that they can't even find their way home. Ecclesiastes 10:15 NLT

A little work this morning just outside. Another branch fell last night, but this one is more my size, as in no heavy equipment required. However, it did miss a window pane by a few inches, so praise to God for that. I also hope and pray in light of today's verse that I am not exhausted and unable to find my way home. Especially fervent prayer for that as the branch is leaning against my house! 

Why wouldn't this fool be able to find his way home though after a little work? It may be that Solomon has observed the work of fools and found them apt to go to the bar after a little work and so be too drunk to find their way home. This happens much even today. Many a marriage has been lost due to fools not being able to find their way home after work. Yes, this little proverb from the Ecclesiastes has some barbs poking out. And as often happens in the Bible, I hear those haunting words... "and such were some of you."  Our eternal home is in Heaven with Jesus, and we need Him to bring us there. Until that time though, we have earthly homes to live in for this brief season until our Lord returns. After a little work, we need to find our way home. All relationships in this time require some effort on our part, and one way to maintain those closely is to find our way home in a timely manner. Don't play the fool; find your way home!

No one else at home? Enter into that prayer closet! There's a relationship that always does us good to work on. 

Bucky

Ar, Matey! Whosoever Ye Will

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Revelation 22:17

Top o' the mornin' to ya, matey! Be this the final offer in the Word o' the Lord for them that will? Thar be a hundred and eighty-three whosoevers in the Word by Good King James, startin' with that whosoever would slayeth that scalawag Cain being cursed seven time oer' to that most famous verse of faith and love to the Lord's son in John 3:16 and on to this final offer to them that will. 

Would ye, matey? After all dem rumblins that pepper the Revelation, would ye take His final offer freely? Methinks Captain SwashBucky would have ye all saved this day! 

Would Jesus our Lord go for International Talk Like a Pirate Day? Ar, matey, methinks He could spill it wit' da best o' the seven seas sailors and rogues! 

Capt. SwashBucky

I Am Your Salvation

Take hold of shield and buckler,
And stand up for my help. Psalm 35:2

Ah yes, the interpretation view of one verse may go according to what the reader wants to see in it. Some would look at this and say that works are needed first to gain the Lord's help in salvation. And why, they may ask, would the Lord be averse to our participation in this work? 

It is critical that the work of salvation belong to the Lord. All of it. How could our Lord Jesus proclaim it finished on the cross if you or I these many years later still had a part to work out in it? What possible help could fallen man be in the work of salvation? Can you imagine 7 billion different partial solutions to salvation this morning? Aiiee! Neither can I. As Paul would say, "May it never be so!" Try not to imagine the horror as part of salvation was decided in each period of history. What part would the Coliseum, the guillotine, a world war, or a large corporation play in those diverse solutions? Which political party gets to decide for all of us after the majority votes? AAAUUGH!

It does not take much knowledge of us to see why we should not hold among ourselves any part of the solution to our salvation. Praise God it was in Christ alone! And David writing this psalm asked God for His help, and in the next verse writes to the Lord, "Say to my soul, 'I am your salvation.' " 

He is indeed our salvation!

Bucky

The Choice Comes

But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. Revelation 22:15

Are we ready for the choice? It comes soon. Of course those of us who believe in Jesus have already made our choice. But for many, this day comes quickly. Will they believe in the Christ, the Son of the Living God? Or will they take the easier and wider path, have faith in only themselves or in the powers of this world, and fall to eternal outside with the dogs and sorcerers? 

For many, there is no choice yet. They think that they are not bad enough for the list in our verse for today, and yet somehow are good enough for heaven. They think that they should not have to choose because when the line is drawn at the judgment, if there even is such a thing, that their basic goodness and decency will place them above it. After all they do not act like those over there that the news media is reporting on today. And of course they are not nearly so bad as that famous Christian who sinned over in that big church. 

For those who have made the choice to believe in Jesus though, we know quite well that we belong on that list in our verse today except for Him. It is His dear Spirit who has made us aware of our utter failure to qualify for the judgment and that He has saved us anyway. The choice was made because He made it possible for us to choose Him. He of course is Jesus the Christ, Son of God and Savior. 

Once I was an idolatrous, murderous, sexually immoral sorcerer dog who loved and practiced a lie, and then He came into my life. 

Bucky

Full-Moon Friday the 13th

I will put an end to all witchcraft,
and there will be no more fortune-tellers.  Micah 5:12

Though your calendar may say the 14th, it seems that due to UTC and the Greenwich meridian and things like that, the full moon arrives over the U.S. late tonight, giving us a full-moon Friday the 13th. This has some a bit on edge over the state of things on this day, especially those who apparently fear turning into unlucky werewolves. What is going on all around us we must not ignore, for these are the very ones the Lord sent us to in His great commission. 

However, I was glad to see this morning that a couple of career and life choices will no longer be offered past a certain point. In Micah that day comes and, witchcraft and fortune-telling are no more. To us they are of no use anyway and worse they are forms of that which infuriates our Lord, idolatry. We are to give such things no credit and certainly none of God's glory. Want to know something of the future? Check the prophets the Lord has sent to us. Micah would be a good one to start with on a day such as this. I like it when our Lord states quite plainly: "I will put an end to all witchcraft." 

Praise God!
Bucky

The Lord's Instructions

 Also you shall destroy all the peoples whom the LORD your God delivers over to you; your eye shall have no pity on them; nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you. Deuteronomy 7:16

Destroy all the peoples...? The wild-eyed lunatic with the 7-foot spear coming at you yelling death and destruction, sure most of us would have no problem with the instruction at that point. The diseased old crone chanting an evil curse at us, okay that is a form of attack. But then there is the children. Which of us could follow the Lord's command at that point? Have no pity on them? Did the Lord really say that, Moses? 

If you want to save yourself, this is the law that you must follow: to the letter, every jot and tittle. One of us cannot speak for the other, but personally, I like that Jesus said to believe in Him and have eternal life. I love Jesus for fulfilling the law on my behalf. I love God for sending His Son to die on the cross for the fact that I cannot follow His law to the letter, especially those letters in our verse for today. And then the Spirit leads us to God not wanting to destroy peoples either, but wanting to save everyone through His wonderful Son, Immanuel. 

Now there is some good news!

Bucky

Patriot Day 2019

“Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4

Today we remember a sudden attack on our land in the form of civilian airplanes hijacked by an enemy who wished to destroy. And destroy they did. The details you will recall all too well, and if not there will be much opportunity today to refresh your memories. It is events such as 9/11 that test our faith.

How can a loving God allow such a thing? Many ask this question even today. What God allows is a choice. Some choose to believe in the Christ, while others choose to ignore, reject, procrastinate, and even envy, hate, or destroy. Take away the ability to choose the sin and to do what is right is no longer a choice but a default. The way of faith preserves the choice, and there will be events such as this one we remember on this day. Some will choose death and destruction over the salvation and justification bought by Jesus with His blood. And when they do make that choice, suffering comes to many and faith is tested. 

We believe in Jesus the Christ, and one day He will return. 

Bucky

The Journey From Birth to Redemption

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:12-13

The flesh we inherited from Adam at our birth takes a look at this scripture and decides there is too much work involved. That heart we were born with is known in another scripture as desperately wicked. How can such a thing be expected to search for God in an all-in sort of way? Too much work the flesh assumes and urges us to give it up for the pleasures of here and now.

Then, there was the rebirth in the Spirit and a renewal of the mind that began that very day. And thus did the war begin in us and in earnest as the heart of the birth wars against the spirit of the rebirth for possession of that formerly lost sheep.

However, Jeremiah was a prophet. And the prophet passes along to us a promise from God: 

"You WILL call upon Me and pray to Me... And you WILL seek Me and find Me." [Emphasis added.]

There is no maybe or might be in the prophecy of the Lord, and though it was at first directed at and to Israel, the Word moved on to the Gentiles and that, my friends, is us. We will call upon and pray to the Lord God, and He will hear us. What a wonderful promise! 

And that whole heart thing? There is an active promise at work in there too. And as we are redeemed by the dear Holy Spirit of God each and every day, that old heart is being broken up and replace by the new. Trust in Him!

Bucky

Repent!

Return to Him against whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. For in that day every man shall throw away his idols of silver and his idols of gold—sin, which your own hands have made for yourselves. Isaiah 31:6-7

Return to Him is the call in the Bible from about Genesis 3 to Revelation 22. In the New Testament it is known as repentance, and in the OT it is the same thing. "Repent and be saved!" call the apostles of the Lord after the Pentecost. "Return to the Lord!" call the prophets after Israel. Those who know of the Lord God are called throughout history to return to Him. Even those of us who are saved by the Lamb are called to return daily to the Lord for we still have this old nature, a fellow passenger on the road to the Promised Land, who wants to trip us up and lay us low in the pleasures of the world. Repent! the call comes to those whom God loves.

Yes, I too once hoped that after the salvation thing we were free to do just any old thing. The flesh and the Devil would very much like us to believe that. However, there is our testimony which can be damaged by our sinful actions and thoughts. People who are curious about the Lord and His salvation watch us, and they take note of the stumbles and falls. It isn't that we are not forgiven for every sin from birth to death. It is that we love our neighbors and want the cleanest testimony to show them. We have plenty of examples already of how we were in our sins and how our Lord forgave them. Perhaps we can store up a few in Christ where we don't have to begin the story with what we did wrong?

Following the Lord who leads us in His righteousness,

Bucky

The Midnight Alarm?

At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You,
Because of Your righteous judgments. Psalm 119:62

We eagerly await the trumpet call at midnight, though it might happen at midday, because of a famous song about that subject. Last night, I had a midnight alarm call. I'm not sure how it got set or activated or whatever, but this device of dubious moral character went off at midnight out in my living room. As I cannot quite come to terms with a burglar risking years in jail simply for the purpose of playing a cruel practical joke on me, the fault must be mine. As God appears in His word and in my life to enjoy taking bad, inconvenient, or difficult things and using them for His glory and my edification, I am reminded of a that midnight cry we await any day now.

The ten virgins waited for it in our Lord's parable, and Paul wrote about it to the churches, and we wait too. This event is of such importance that our Lord reminded us to be ready. It is that sudden event that left one man standing alone in the field, one woman grinding the flour, and another with a bed to himself. In the twinkling of an eye, Paul said, we will be transformed and snatched up to be with our Lord Jesus forever! Yes, what better to turn to when awakened in the night but that great event known as the Rapture. Who better to turn to than the One who will bring us to Himself!

Thank You, dear Lord, for that reminder,

Bucky

The Fallen To The Risen

​

​​The fortress of the high fort of your walls
​​He will bring down, lay low,
​​And bring to the ground, down to the dust.​ Isaiah 25:12

In the past week, some of my high forts were knocked down. Yes, Isaiah is speaking out in the Lord against Moab. But this pertains to our forts as well; those strongholds of talent, intellect, physical strength, health, wealth, and other worldly forts that we think just might save us from something. We are blessed by the Lord when those forts that stand in our lives against Him are brought down to the dust.

Whatever may stand between us and the Lord, and our complete dependence upon Him and His salvation, must be thrown down, down to the ground. So that we cannot try to say silly things like, "I helped the Lord save me!" ​Nope, me and you were no help in salvation at all, only the blood of the Lamb could cleanse such a fallen one as you and me. The fallen must come to the risen to be saved, and it is only the Risen Lord Jesus who can save.

Praise God for His Risen Savior!

Bucky